May 24, 2026: Woodland Flower Exhibition

It's the time of year when the elegance of woodland flowers, those ephemeral wonders of evolution, draw me into the forest each spring.  Last week the trilliums were blooming.  This week the Eastern Starflower, Fringed Polygala, and even an early Pink Lady's Slipper burst onto the scene.

A Lady's Slipper in a sunny spot makes an early appearance.

The lady's slipper is one of our more ancient woodland flowers, having evolved when the last dinosaurs roamed the earth some 70 million years ago.  They can be long-lived, up to 50 years, but are slow growers, requiring over a decade before they form their first flower.  The starflower and trillium are more recent arrivals.

Eastern Starflower

 

Painted Trillium

High above these small plants, the pale-green color of the forest canopy shows the deciduous trees are about to pull the shades on the forest floor, dimming the light that granted these flowers their chance to shine. 

Pale green leaves as chlorophyll starts to develop in them.

Maples are fast growers and already have leaves and even seeds well formed.

Red Maple with many "helicopter" seeds

The slower-developing oaks are farther behind.  But with long days and warm temperatures, they're coming on strong now, and are dumping copious amounts of pollen from their abundant flowers.

Those long dangling flowers are full of pollen to torment allergy sufferers

Perhaps you noticed the hummingbirds in last week's blog were all female ruby-throated hummingbirds which lack the ruby throat of the male.  This week, I saw both male and females at our feeder. 

Mr. Ruby comes in for a drink, landing gear deployed.

Here is Mrs. Ruby-throat, waiting patiently for her turn.

Mrs. Ruby - lacking a ruby throat.

I'll end today with nature's sky show from the week.  Venus has been bright in the western sky all week (and still is, along with Jupiter). 

Venus hugging the moon with Jupiter above to the left.

On Monday evening it was in close proximity to the crescent moon. 

Venus and Moon were alright that night.  (With apologies to Sir Paul McCartney.)

There was probably some astrological meaning there!

May 18, 2025: One Big Loon

This week the banded male in the northern territory gave us a lesson on how it manages to stay strong enough to defend what is clearly a highly desirable breeding territory.  

Yup, he's going to swallow that whole.

We watched him catch and devour not one, but two huge fish.  Someone may be able to estimate the weight of these fish, but I expect each one accounted for a significant portion of his daily two-pound diet.  Here's the process he went through to get it down its throat after taking a good five minutes playing with it to weaken it enough to swallow.

At this point something wasn't going right and he coughed the fish back and started over again.

Getting farther down this time.

Swimming hard seemed to be part of the final swallowing process.

A big lump in that throat.

Almost down.

Always a big shake to get that neck bulge sent all the way down.

So that was a pretty good meal.  Two days later it was back in the same spot like any fisherman that returns to a spot where he once caught a big one.

This fish is also sliver with dark spots.  Are they Black Crappies?

I'll short cut the process this time, but it took just as long as before to accomplish the whole thing.

With plenty of fish in his belly he's got the energy he needs to keep up his weight and fight off the endless challenges on his territory.

In case you didn't catch the update to last week's journal, Lake Wicwas eventually crested over two feet above normal level, lapping over the edge of the dam.  Not the highest it's ever been, but close, and it's still about a foot higher than normal.  With three boards removed from the dam it's dropping at a rate of about 2" per day so without any more rain it will take another week before it's back to normal level.

Aren't fish supposed to swim under the dock?

We must be pretty close to a full complement of summer birds now.  Arriving this week were the Eastern Kingbird, Scarlet Tanager, and Great Crested Flycatcher.  The latter has a sharp call that's easy to recognize once you've learned it.  Wildflowers came on strong this week with the warm sunny days, and that green Lady's Slipper I found last week did in fact bloom.  

Pink Lady's Slipper

A few other flowers popped out as well including the Eastern Starflower and the Fringed Polygala.

Eastern Starflower

Fringed Polygala

We know "poly" means many, and this week I learned that "gala" means milk.  I also learned that's where the word "galaxy" comes from, originating as the "Milkyway Galaxy".  Though it looks like an orchid, this fringed polygala is a member of the Milkwork Family.  [Ref:  US Forest Service]  

Keep an eye for more flowers appearing on the forest floor in the next couple of weeks.

May 26, 2024: Nests on Land, Sea, and Air

 Nesting season is now in full swing; I'll start with land.

Hermit Thrush nest built into a depression in the ground.

I never would have seen this Hermit Thrush nest if the bird sitting on the nest hadn't flown out right in front of me as I walked past it.  The nest is right beside what must be a lightly used trail or it wouldn't have selected that spot.  But otherwise it's perfect, beautifully hidden under a hemlock branch and some small plants.

The undisturbed appearance of the nest.

I held the hemlock aside to take a picture and then went quickly on my way.  The Hermit Thrush is one of several birds that make their nest on the forest floor, from the Oven Bird - named after the dome-shaped nest it builds -  up to the much larger turkey.  In the case of Hermit Thrushes, it's the male that constructs the nest, though the female may help with the interior decorating, lining it with soft finishing touches.  Field guides say she usually lays three to six eggs, so maybe there's more to come.  

Mallards also make nests on the ground, usually hidden under a shrub or other small plant.  Our Mallard family has already hatched their eggs and mom has been out on the lake with her six little ducklings.

One of our Mallard families.

Next up is a nest in the air.  Visiting an area of young forests I heard the call of the Chestnut-sided Warbler and stopped to peer into the dense jungle of trees.  I never found the warbler, but I did find what has all the characteristics of a Chestnut-sided Warbler nest:  a tightly built nest of grasses and other plant material woven around multiple stems of a young sapling five to ten feet above the ground in a young successional forest.

I didn't climb in to see if there were eggs in this nest.

Finally, on the water, there is this exciting nest:

The northern loon pair has nested.

The northern loon pair has selected a site, built a nest, and is assumed to be sitting on an egg or two.  With a telephoto lens I was able to take a picture far enough away to not disturb the loon as shown by its head-up position.  When feeling threatened a loon on a nest will put its head low down against the ground to hide and to be in a position to quickly leave the nest for the safety of the lake.  Eagle-eye Amy W. spotted it on May 23rd, just a couple of days after there were territorial battles being waged between the pair and an intruding loon, possibly the Paugus Bay loon we saw two weeks ago.  

Our pair made it quite clear what the intruder would be dealing with if it sticks around.

Lots of chasing and wing-rowing.

I guess they decided it was time to send him packing before they nested.  

Trees are mating now also - in their own way - as shown by the quantity of pollen covering everything, including the lake on a calm morning.

The Black Cherries are doing their thing too.

They're always a beautiful sight, and will continue to be so right through the summer as their deep red fruit matures.

The state flower, the lilac, seems to be having a good year too with lots of blooms all around town.

These lilacs are along Chemung Rd.

Finally, everyone's favorite, the Pink Lady's Slipper:

I'm seeing a lot of them this year - hopefully you will too!

May 28, 2023: Pickerel Frogs

I think we're pretty close to having a full contingent of summer residents now.  This week I saw a veery, a Yellow Warbler, and a Red-eyed Vireo, some of the last arrivals.  The amphibians are also out and about; the tree frogs are singing, and I saw my first pickerel frog.

Pickerel Frog

It blended in so well with its surroundings that I never would have seen it if it didn't leap out of my way as I approached.

It was down near the lake where there are lots of good things to eat, but that's also where our resident garter snake hangs out, so it better be on high alert.  Pickerel frogs are considered poisonous as their skin excretes a toxin that is harmful to humans, cats and dogs, other amphibians and some snakes, but the garter snake has developed immunity to the pickerel frog's toxin [Amphibian Planet].  Dogs often learn about amphibian secretions from toads which have a more mild toxin, but the dog still ends up with a foaming mouth.  Pickerel frog secretions can be fatal to small animals, but to humans and pets it's usually just irritating to the skin and mucous membranes.  

Dragonflies are becoming numerous as they emerge from the depths of the lake as it warms.

Common Brown Baskettail (Epitheca cynosura)

I recently learned that dragonflies are actually considered aquatic insects because they spend most of their lives in the water. They live as nymphs in the lake for a few months or even a few years depending on species.  Then most only live for a few weeks as flying dragonflies to mate and lay their eggs back in the lake.  Their mating process is fascinating - a topic for another day.

Another small animal I saw this week was a Dock Spider.

This little guy was hanging out on our screen.  I think it looks like a pirate.

I've never seen such a little one. Usually I find huge ones on the dock or the boat come mid summer.

On a much larger scale, I've seen deer a few times over the past couple of weeks so I set up the trail camera to see what I could catch. What I caught was a rather skinny young deer, nibbling its way through the trees, and then grooming itself in the opening where I placed the camera. 

It must be relieved to have green grass and new leaves to browse on after what looks like a hard winter for it.  It looks like it might have little antler stubs known at buttons - perhaps it's a young buck.

Here's a video as it browsed and groomed and picked off ticks.

Now on to the flowers - the Lady's-slippers are out.

Pink Lady's Slipper

While I was enjoying this one I noticed a dry, brown stalk coming out from its base.  It's last year's flower which is now a seed pod - an empty seed pod.  Inside it would have been many, maybe hundreds, of tiny seeds.

The now-empty seed pod.

The seeds have presumably been released on the ground so perhaps there will be a whole patch of lady's-slippers here in a few years.

Around the lake, the white blossoms of the serviceberry are gone, replaced with chokeberry growing all along the shoreline.

Black Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)

The chokeberry flower is very similar to other fruit trees such as cherry, plum, and apple.

You've likely heard about the smoke in the upper atmosphere that was blown here from fires in Canada.  Between the smoke and the pollen there have been some pretty impressive sunsets.

It looks like we're going to have nice sunsets all weekend; let's enjoy this beautiful weather as we remember what this long weekend commemorates.  There will be a memorial service at Oakland Cemetery on Monday morning at 8:00 and all are welcome.

A prior Memorial Day Ceremony at Oakland Cemetery.